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Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

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Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#61

Post by ericmay »

This is a great move for Apple.

The game-changer for them, IMO, is to buy the rights to broadcast Pac-12 and Big-10 football (and ideally all sports).

I am an avid college football fan. Trying to find games to watch is a pain without some sort of lame ass subscription somewhere. I already pay for Apple TV + because it's bundled with other services that I use.

With the incoming threat of ESPN + Disney + SEC fracturing the college football landscape, Apple could provide the money, reach, and power to take some of the sport (and country's) biggest brands and put them front and center in front of millions and basically compete head-on with Disney. Next step is you broadcast all of the NCAA sports - baseball and volleyball championships, etc. Take what the Big-10 and Pac-12 channels were supposed to be and make them great and unbundled from cable TV.

In the coming years I think they're going to add live news with a focus on "quality journalism" as well. The Jon Stewart show and documentaries they are producing are the first drip.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#62

Post by true_religion »

throwaway12245 wrote: post #43
avgDev wrote: post #26

This is probably one of the best decision by any TV provider. MLS is going to blow up in the coming years. There is a lot of talk about US national team being very competitive in 2026 World Cup. MLS has produced stars already, like Alphonso Davies. Once the hype gets higher and more money start being spent on soccer in the US, it will become a power house.

U.S. Soccer is a joke : that goes for international and MLS. Top U.S. club is ranked 122 in the world : https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/glob... U.S. got beat by some central american club and did not qualify for world cup last time. MLS is a rigged league. Purported local "ownership" is a ruse. MLS management decides who wins championship. Real U.S. soccer fans follow top European leagues and…

> U.S. Soccer is a joke

So what? People seem to enjoy the comedy club that is US soccer. That's all that matters for Apple which is trying to serve its home country and largest market: the US.

I'm sure after some time, if this is successful, they would expand to leagues from Latin America, then finally Europe.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#63

Post by Seanambers »

dgritsko wrote: post #24

I'm really curious as to what Apple's broader strategy is with live sports, since that's typically been one of the last big reasons to keep a cable subscription. However, given that Apple TV Plus is going to have at least some MLB games[1] and is rumored to possibly be the new home for the NFL Sunday Ticket[2], they could be seeking to make it the must-have subscription for fans of live sports. https://www.apple.com/…

There is a lot i don't understand about how they view things in Cupertino.

I mean, there must be a lot of people at Apple thinking about the future - what it will look like, how media is consumed and then again how Apple can own that pipeline and ecosystem.

Both on the media side, hardware side and software side the offering is lacking in ways i find very strange coming from Apple.

For instance why haven't Apple just gotten the internet broadcast rights to a lot of sports to build a moat around it - not because it is popular but because they can. With Apples finances they could also get alot of popular sports on Apple TV as well.

Why didn't Apple buy any movie studios to kickstart Apple TV and get a big catalogue from the get go - seems like a no brainer.

Apple does a lot of stuff right, but there are more than a few areas where they fail to really provide value.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#64

Post by dismantlethesun »

throwaway12245 wrote: post #43
avgDev wrote: post #26

This is probably one of the best decision by any TV provider. MLS is going to blow up in the coming years. There is a lot of talk about US national team being very competitive in 2026 World Cup. MLS has produced stars already, like Alphonso Davies. Once the hype gets higher and more money start being spent on soccer in the US, it will become a power house.

U.S. Soccer is a joke : that goes for international and MLS. Top U.S. club is ranked 122 in the world : https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/glob... U.S. got beat by some central american club and did not qualify for world cup last time. MLS is a rigged league. Purported local "ownership" is a ruse. MLS management decides who wins championship. Real U.S. soccer fans follow top European leagues and…

> U.S. Soccer is a joke

So what? People seem to enjoy the comedy club that is US soccer. That's all that matters for Apple which is trying to serve its home country and largest market: the US.

I'm sure after some time, if this is successful, they would expand to leagues from Latin America, then finally Europe.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#65

Post by thrill »

Apocryphon wrote: post #48
throwaway12245 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

U.S. Soccer is a joke : that goes for international and MLS. Top U.S. club is ranked 122 in the world : https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/glob... U.S. got beat by some central american club and did not qualify for world cup last time. MLS is a rigged league. Purported local "ownership" is a ruse. MLS management decides who wins championship. Real U.S. soccer fans follow top European leagues and…

What the heck happened to Man U in those rankings? Did they fall precipitously in the last few years or what

Sir Alex knew "when to fold 'em".

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#66

Post by JamesSwift »

avgDev wrote: post #26

This is probably one of the best decision by any TV provider. MLS is going to blow up in the coming years. There is a lot of talk about US national team being very competitive in 2026 World Cup. MLS has produced stars already, like Alphonso Davies. Once the hype gets higher and more money start being spent on soccer in the US, it will become a power house.

I just dont see MLS "blowing up". Will it be more popular than today? Possibly, though I feel like its been given several chances to catch on and never has. Will it challenge NFL / NBA popularity in any way? IMO, absolutely not.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#67

Post by jl6 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #48
throwaway12245 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

U.S. Soccer is a joke : that goes for international and MLS. Top U.S. club is ranked 122 in the world : https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/glob... U.S. got beat by some central american club and did not qualify for world cup last time. MLS is a rigged league. Purported local "ownership" is a ruse. MLS management decides who wins championship. Real U.S. soccer fans follow top European leagues and…

What the heck happened to Man U in those rankings? Did they fall precipitously in the last few years or what

Fergexit.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#68

Post by trynewideas »

rwc wrote: post #32
colinmhayes wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This would finally motivate me to cancel the cable TV subscription Which is exactly why blackouts exist. Live tv is pretty much solely about sports and 24 hour news channels now. The big four sports leagues all make billions a year off their TV deals. Giving up blackouts would absolutely hamstring them. Hard to believe the other leagues will give up blackouts until they are confident they can run their own streamin…

As I understand it, blackouts primarily exist to ensure local ticket sales for full stadiums. "In most cases, the blackout results when a sports league prohibits an event from being televised locally if the event did not sell out all its tickets." https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/sports-blackouts#:~:tex... .)

So of course, part of the deal is to give away the subscription to MLS season ticket holders.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#69

Post by trynewideas »

relaxatorium wrote: post #51
avgDev wrote: post #26

This is probably one of the best decision by any TV provider. MLS is going to blow up in the coming years. There is a lot of talk about US national team being very competitive in 2026 World Cup. MLS has produced stars already, like Alphonso Davies. Once the hype gets higher and more money start being spent on soccer in the US, it will become a power house.

It's a gamble, because as of now they're not even the most popular soccer league in America let alone the world. Liga MX (Mexican soccer) ratings destroy them for the obvious reasons (the league the US's largest most passionate soccer fanbase is most passionate about), EPL ratings beat them pretty handily as well (English Premier League, the highest profile and probably best of the European leagues). Given the money…

MLS also lost linear TV ratings and viewership battles a few times this season to the women's league (NWSL), which a few MLS teams also own teams in. NWSL's media deals with CBS and Twitch are worth $4.5M/year, or less than 2% this deal from Apple.

Most of those NWSL matches where MLS lost in viewership were also just preseason tournament matches for the women's league. The season hadn't even started yet.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#70

Post by lotsofpulp »

Seanambers wrote: post #63
dgritsko wrote: post #24

I'm really curious as to what Apple's broader strategy is with live sports, since that's typically been one of the last big reasons to keep a cable subscription. However, given that Apple TV Plus is going to have at least some MLB games[1] and is rumored to possibly be the new home for the NFL Sunday Ticket[2], they could be seeking to make it the must-have subscription for fans of live sports. https://www.apple.com/…

There is a lot i don't understand about how they view things in Cupertino. I mean, there must be a lot of people at Apple thinking about the future - what it will look like, how media is consumed and then again how Apple can own that pipeline and ecosystem. Both on the media side, hardware side and software side the offering is lacking in ways i find very strange coming from Apple. For instance why haven't Apple just…

>For instance why haven't Apple just gotten the internet broadcast right to a lot of sports to build a moat around it -

It is possible that they want all or nothing rights. There are a ton of complicated rules by NHL/MLB/NFL/NBA on blackout games, parceling out different games to different broadcasters in different areas, and then of course, different broadcasters by country. All with different contract expiry dates.

I will not pay for sports until the sports organizations make it easy to find everything (within their sports org) in one place.

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